Winter Party is fun -- but hosts mean business

Winter Party is a day at the beach, but National Gay and Lesbian Task Force organizers want everyone to know that the big, weeklong festival has a serious side, too.

''When the Task Force took over Winter Party, one of the missions was to make sure it was not just a [men's] circuit party but a series of events to reach out to . . . the entire spectrum of the community. Transgender people, LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] families and youth,'' said Michael Bath, Miami's Task Force special events manager. ``We don't have a pride celebration in Miami. This is about the closest thing we have to it.''

Besides the 15th annual beach party, Winter Party Festival this year includes an interfaith religious service, a picnic for gay families, a ''Hollywood Nights'' youth event and a preview of a new memorial to gay hate-crime victims.

Bath expects 10,000 visitors from all over the world to attend this year's festival, with events in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

''We're getting a lot of folks from out of the country,'' he said. 'We've advertised in a lot of gay publications in Argentina, the U.K., Canada, France. Our slogan is, `The U.S. dollar is weak, the Miami sun is strong,' to capitalize on the advantage of a U.S. vacation right now.''

The campaign apparently is working. ''We're ahead of where we were last year financially,'' he said.

The festival began in Miami Beach in 1994 with a one-day beach dance party off Ocean Drive. Winter Party helped finance a new foundation to benefit local gay groups. The Task Force bought the event, as well as the foundation's annual autumn recognition dinner, after the fundraising group went under in 2004.

The Task Force agreed to keep two-thirds of all net profits from the events in Miami-Dade County, giving the money to the Dade Community Foundation's GLBT Community Project Fund.

''Last year, we donated $160,000,'' Bath said. ``This year it should be higher. The dinner alone, we believe, netted about $200,000.''

Alison Burgos, a South Florida events planner and board president of Aqua Foundation for Women, says the Task Force has fulfilled its promise to South Florida's gay people.

''They understood they should embrace the entire community, including women and youth and our transgender community,'' Burgos said. ``The Task Force has done a great job in recognizing that and meeting those needs.''

• Preview of Gay American Heroes: A National Memorial to Celebrate Their Lives, 6 to 8 p.m., Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach. Visit the model of the national traveling memorial honoring LGBT people murdered because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Special Preview Reception for Gay American Heroes: A National Memorial to Celebrate Their Lives, 7:30 to 10 p.m., (program starts at 8:45 p.m.), Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach. Meet the families of Ryan Keith Skipper and Sean Kennedy, both murdered in 2007. Celebrate their lives, learn about hate crimes against LGBT persons and about the project to construct a national traveling memorial to honor LGBT victims. Suggested donation at door: $25.

• Preview of Gay American Heroes: A National Memorial to Celebrate Their Lives, 6 to 8 p.m., Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach. Visit the model of the national traveling memorial honoring LGBT people murdered because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.